53% of young people didn’t vote in the 2014 election.

The available stats tell us that 53% of 18-24 year olds didn’t vote in the last election. While this figure is a positive reverse in the decline from the 2011 election where over 60% of young people didn’t vote, it still illustrates the crisis in youth voter turnout.

Voter Turnout

18-24 year old voter turn out 1996

60%

18-24 year old voter turn out 2011

40%

18-24 year old voter turn out 2014

47%

The 2014 election was the first year since 1996 that we have seen a reverse in the decline of youth voter turnout. However, the total amount of young people who participated in our democracy was still well under half.

The long term trend from 1996 to 2011 shows that every election year 4% fewer young people voted. The 2014 election was the first to reverse the decline, with 6% more young people turning up to the booths.

If this positive increase continues this election, over half of young people will be having their say in our country – an amount that hasn’t been seen in a long time. Ultimately, this is our goal.

Are young people starting to care again? We hope so!

The Virgin Voter Collective’s Goal is to continue the trend of increased youth voter turnout for 18-24 year olds.

To do this we need to get approximately 27,000 more people between 18-24 to vote. That’s just 6% of the total eligible.

Where did this information come from?

The 2014 and 2017 findings and data the VVC site uses has been sourced firstly through the work of Professor Jack Vowles of Victoria University comparing a statistically significant sample size of actual (1) raw electoral roll data and checked against actual marked rolls.

Source of the 42% is the Statistics New Zealand “Findings from New Zealand General Social Survey, 2011”. (2)

The VVC has analysed statistics sourced from the electoral roll and other data in the country (3) to extract the current enrolment statistics electorate by electorate for 18­ – 24 year olds across the country. We have established enrolment figures as a percentage of the total number of eligible 18 – ­24 year olds in the electorate. (4) (5)

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We appreciate that what the VVC and its members have pulled together is not perfect – but we recognised a gap that needed to be filled and have done our best to do so. We welcome all feedback and ideas.

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Disclaimer

The Virgin Voter Collective is a campaign formed by a collective of members sharing the goal of raising youth voter turnout. However, each member of the collective is acting independently and not all members will agree with all the statements made by other members.